Irrational Games head penning screenplay for upcoming remake of '70s sci-fi film

With BioShock Infinite out the door, Ken Levine has a new project to keep him busy. Deadline is reporting that the Irrational Games creative director has signed on to write the screenplay for the upcoming Warner Bros. remake of the 1976 sci-fi film Logan's Run. According to the site, Levine will continue to hold his position at Irrational and work on the studio's games.

The subject matter may be familiar to Levine. Much like the BioShock games, Logan's Run tells the story of a fantastic utopia with a horrendous dark side. The original film envisions an idyllic sci-fi future full of beautiful people living pleasant lives. But to ensure there are resources enough to support such a world, the population must be controlled, and people are rounded up and killed when they turn 30. Those who resist are called runners, and are hunted down by a group of enforcers known as Sandmen. The film tells the story of one of those Sandmen, Logan, who begins to have misgivings about the society as he nears his 30th birthday.

Levine has history with Logan's Run and screenwriting, both of which he touched on in his 2008 Penny Arcade Expo keynote address. Levine talked about the impact Logan's Run had on him as a child, as well as an infatuation with the film's lead actress Jenny Agutter. As for his career as a screenwriter before getting into game development, Levine unsuccessfully pitched an ultraviolent vampire movie around Hollywood. What he was offered in return was a romantic comedy, which by his own admission, "turned out to completely suck." Shortly after that project, he joined Looking Glass Studios.

Sign up for The Daily Update and get the best of GamesIndustry.biz in your inbox.

Lol Greg Atreides!
Loved Logan's Run as a kid. The first time I saw The Island I thought it was some kind of remake/homage, and not a bad one for that matter... until the moment frakking Michael Bay decided that the story was done now, so it all should go down to hoverbike chases and explosions.
This is good news for sci-fi fans.

I'm hoping to not see a game out of this though... unless it takes place before the film's events and sets up the movie. The original film was/is pretty poor at telling its story and as it went so far away from the source material, a lot of things make no sense (well, that's an editing thing as well, as I understand a few scenes were cut and yeah, you can only tell so much of a story in two hours)...